\tHanWay Films\u2019 Head of Production Katie Ellen, microfilm producer Ada Solomon and Co-Head of WME Independent Alex Walton will address the audience during Locarno\u2019s StepIn opening keynote.\u00a0\u00a0 \tAccording to this year\u2019s theme \u201cThe Ground Is Shaking,\u201d they will take on four topics: A.I., current challenges in independent production and financing, the traditional theatrical model and gender equality and diversity representation.\u00a0 \tFollowing the panel, a select group of industry players will take part in four closed roundtable discussions, each focusing on one of the topics, later sharing their findings with others during a wrap-up session.\u00a0 \t\u201cWe are all facing challenges in our different areas and there are always periods of change. I\u2019m old enough to have seen previous cycles and during these moments, there are always opportunities [too]. We shouldn\u2019t be panicking,\u201d said Alex Walton. \t \t\t\t \t\t\tPopular on Variety\t\t \t \t\t \t \t\u201cStepIn is a great opportunity to listen and to hear about the challenges others are facing, and to build avenues that can help us push through this current period in the shifting media landscape.\u201d\u00a0 \t\u201cFor this opening keynote, we wanted speakers that, for their experience, background and history, can introduce and summarize all these topics. I look forward to the conversation between them,\u201d Marcello Paolillo, StepIn & U30 project manager, told\u00a0Variety.\u00a0 \t\u201cOver the years, StepIn has become an international think-tank where renowned film executives get together to discuss what works and what doesn\u2019t in our industry. With this year\u2019s provocative title, \u2018The Ground Is Shaking,\u2019 we wanted to address that sense of instability perceived in all the different branches of our industry.\u201d \tThis year\u2019s participants include Guillaume Esmiol, executive director at Cannes\u2019 March\u00e9 du Film, producer and film analyst Ted Hope, Eurimages\u2019 Executive Director Susan Newman Baudais, European Film Academy CEO and Director Matthijs Wouter Knol, as well as EFA\u2019s Diversity & Inclusion Officer Fatih Abay, Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle, Unifrance\u2019s Executive Director Daniela Elstner, Netflix\u2019s Wolf Osthaus, Paramount Pictures\u2019 Sejin Croninger, A24\u2019s Joe Fragrassi and U.S. producer Stacey Sher, who will be also awarded with Raimondo Rezzonico Award at the fest.\u00a0 \t \tAccording to Paolillo, it\u2019s \u201cundeniable\u201d that every sector of the film industry is showing signs of distress.\u00a0 \t\u201cWhether it\u2019s the consequence of simultaneous shocks caused by the rise of streaming platforms, a global pandemic, wars, worldwide recession and a strike that stalled the industry for months, or it\u2019s just the anticipation of a larger upheaval due to the looming threat of A.I. still remains to be seen. But it will be something to discuss together.\u201d\u00a0 \tA full-day event that takes place on the first day of Locarno Pro, StepIn is supposed to anticipate the tone of the market and ignite conversations that continue in the following days.\u00a0 \t\u201cThe core of the event is the closed-door roundtable session in the afternoon: a protected space where film executives can interact, share options, even disagree, but in the end tackle some of the most pressing issues we all have to contend with,\u201d noted Paolillo. \t\u201cIt\u2019s something that wouldn\u2019t be possible in Cannes or Berlin, simply because at those markets everyone is so caught up in the day-to-day business. It would be impossible to ask film executives to take a full day off to dedicate it to the future of our business and how we can improve our working environment. But in Locarno, for one day, they can afford this luxury. Given the feedback we receive year after year, they seem to truly enjoy it.\u201d\u00a0 \tThe event will focus on A.I. also during Kelsey Farish\u2019s \u201cScripting New Realities: The Role and Risks of A.I. in Modern Filmmaking\u201d panel. Farish, a media and entertainment lawyer with expertise in generative A.I., will address the legal, business and ethical challenges posed by A.I. \u2013 as well as its benefits.\u00a0 \t\u201cIt has become a tradition to kick off our event with an\u00a0\u2018out-of-the box introduction.\u2019\u00a0It\u2019s a way to shake up our common ground and reconsider assumptions we too often take for granted,\u201d explained Paolillo.\u00a0 \t\u201cA.I. \u2013 and generative A.I. \u2013 is the big elephant in the room, arguably the most disruptive force meant to radically change our industry in the upcoming years. And while it can undoubtedly bring some great advantages in terms of cost and time savings, give access to incredible tools and open up the door to new professions, it also raises many concerns and questions which are at once creative, ethical, legal and economical.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HanWay Films\u2019 Head of Production Katie Ellen, microfilm producer Ada Solomon and Co-Head of WME Independent Alex Walton will address the audience during Locarno\u2019s StepIn opening keynote.\u00a0\u00a0 According to this year\u2019s theme \u201cThe Ground Is Shaking,\u201d they will take on four topics: A.I., current challenges in independent production and financing, the traditional theatrical model and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4228,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/ita\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/ita\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/ita\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/ita\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/ita\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/ita\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/ita\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/ita\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/ita\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/ita\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}